Suspended Thailand PM Paetongtarn removed from office over leaked phone call with Cambodian leader

Bangkok [Thailand], August 29 (ANI): Thailand's Constitutional Court on Friday dismissed Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra from office for an ethics violation, local media reported.

Bangkok Post news outlet said that Paetongtarn, who was Thailand's youngest prime minister, becomes the sixth premier from or backed by the billionaire Shinawatra family to be removed by the military or judiciary in a tumultuous two-decade battle for power between the country's warring elites.

According to the Thai court, Paetongtarn violated ethics in a leaked June telephone call, during which she appeared to kowtow to Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen when both countries were at the brink of an armed border conflict.

Fighting erupted weeks later and lasted five days.

Paetongtarn, 39, had issued a public apology on June 19 over the leaked call and said she was trying to avert a war. She had assumed office a year ago in August 2024.

Cambodian leader Hun Sen released online a recording of his telephone conversation with her. In the June 15 telephone conversation to discuss the recent border clash between Thailand and Cambodia in which one Cambodian soldier was killed, Paetongtarn had addressed Hun Sen as "uncle" and referred to Lt Gen Padklang as an adversary.

It also led to the exit of the main partner from her government's ruling coalition, the conservative Bhumjaithai Party.

Paetongtarn had been provisionally suspended since July 1 as the nine-judge court considered its decision in the case. Her father, Thaksin Shinawatra, was ousted in a 2006 military coup

Meanwhile, Deputy Premier Phumtham Wechayachai and the current cabinet will oversee the government in a caretaker capacity until a new prime minister is elected by the house, with no time limit on when that must take place, Bangkok Post reported. (ANI)

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